Here goes... I my mind, still, this is a MASSIVE secret I’m revealing. However, one of my spiritual teachers, and various other friends and colleagues, have lovingly laughed at me as I shared with them my not-so-secret secret, and they responded with something along the lines of, “Duh,” “Uh, obviously honey.” and “Hahaha, yeah, not so hidden!”:

I’m a card carrying member, even a leader, within #TEAMJOY.

(FYI, in #TEAMJOY, everyone who helps things go well for others from a place of love, empowerment, and appreciation are leaders!)

I am in love with and fully-committed to living a life filled with and guided by joy, appreciation, wholeness, and love. Not just in principle, but in my daily life, as my predominant experience.

And, obviously, I don’t mean literally every day and all the time—because life is f*cking complicated and painful at times.

After practice & years of learning, I intentionally make room for any number of feelings that need surface, honor & witness, and then release them.

I’ve been afraid to share about this more openly because I didn’t want what I’m saying to be confused with toxic positivity. No, no, no. This ain’t that. It’s basically the opposite. Holistic joy. Purposeful, mindful joy.

It’s possible to be genuinely and ethically content, appreciative, and at peace most of the time. Think of the Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh. I don’t think most of us would accuse them of toxic positivity.

I think a lot of us intrinsically know this: consistent contentment, is a real possibility, even natural for us… but we have no idea how to get there and various efforts – like forced positivity – didn’t work or even backfired.

I’ve spent the past 10 years as an avid student and increasingly as a dedicated practitioner of #joyousjustice.

More recently, over the last two years, this journey has been more intense for me as I began feeling compelled to share the insight I accumulated.

But also, out of devotion for the work and as a woman of color who has to deal with racism and sexism (which both endeavor to consistently discredit and undermine Women of Color), I deeply committed myself to becoming a consistent and deeply-rooted practitioner of all I learned — so that I could stand strong, so I face blow-back or navigate rigorous questions, if I so chose.

Ultimately, based upon the years I’ve spent carefully examining many facets of this, I created a robust internal framework in which oppression analysis, justice, joy, effective executive leadership, and holistic health all pragmatically co-exist with one another. Wooo! It was not easy, lol.

But it was worth it! And now I want to begin sharing what has been my internal framework with those who are sincerely interested to know. Tricky thing is, with my ADHD, it’s SO HARD to know where to start, haha. So, I’m leaning on my mindfulness practices and Divine guidance to help me to determine which steps to take. Also, your loving and interested input, interest, and intrigue that you are willing to kindly share help too.

Additionally, I felt it necessary to not only know and have extensively practiced various principles and spiritual insights, but reach a certain level of embodiment and enduring (and also perpetually evolving) commitment to ensure these insights filter through ALL the parts of my living, consciousness, and being.

I have sufficiently progressed in my embodiment and integration and am now at the beginning stages of being ready to share.

Because I (or really I, in partnership and with guidance from Spirit) have taken years and many quiet, as well as active(!), moments to integrate my multicultural & multiracial spirituality and co-creation with the Divine practices with my rigorous and deeply committed social justice and liberatory consciousness and trauma healing, into a harmonious internal ecosystem that is balanced and aligned.

It’s not for everyone, but I have a feeling there are many who would love to learn about how I’ve established this internal ecosystem that I’m finally willing and ready to share with humble clarity and confidence with those are who interested.

All of these can co-exist. Just because most of the “love and light” folks who get lifted up and praised are white and lacking oppression analysis and a number of social justice leaders are harsh and/or burned out, doesn’t mean that profoundly luminous and nourishing spirituality that lightens our load can’t co-exist with strong, honest, and courageous social change and abolition and processing of our individual and collective pain and trauma.

I launched Joyous Justice at the end of 2018 because I saw that these seemingly diametrically opposing practices can not only co-exist, but can exponentially bolster and amplify one another.

We don’t have to choose between joy and justice. Joy needs justice and what is justice without sacred joy?

Not only that, but if done well, I think each one can lead a person to the other. When folks are truly experiencing joy, self-love (deep, real self-love, not vanity, denial or self-delusion), and appreciation, they are better poised to want to help other folks and learn more about how they can be part of efforts to improve the lives of others.

And advocating for justice can at times be arduous and heartbreaking. It can also take us to dark places as we continually keep our gaze on the suffering of others. Many activists and change makers long for or are seeking relief and inspiration that is real and true.

We live in a world that is facing multiple crises and that contains much suffering and oppression. At the same time, our planet is abundantly beautiful and resourced, and this is undeniably one of the best times to be alive. The challenge is that because of the suffering and problems we’re facing, many people carry unhealed trauma that limits their capacity, leading them to believe (often subliminally) they need to suffer in order to effectively lead social change.

Joyous Justice offers an alternative: Our healing, joyous thriving, and justice work are all meant to co-exist, bolster one another, and more easefully move us toward a world of greater wholeness, justice, compassion, and joy!

This is my vision for Joyous Justice and our world and why I am on #TEAMJOY. Because for me, my ancestors, the Great Spirit, joy and justice go hand in hand.

If you’d like to dip your toe in and/or get daily support and encouragement for living a more joyously just life, I invite you to join our free and private Facebook group: Joyously Pursuing Racial Justice. (We’ll ask you a few questions before joining to ensure we’re maintaining an intentional community with aligned commitment, but don’t be intimidated by that. Feel free to share whatever comes to mind and that’ll likely be good enough.)

There is much, much more to come. Thank you for reading to this point. I am honored and so pleased to be in community with you. Much love and solidarity.

** Please note: I’m very high-functioning, but have ADHD with dyslexic tendencies. Please pardon any typos. If you catch any obvious ones that I clearly missed and you’d like to kindly let me know, I don't mind. I will likely delete the comment once the mistake has been corrected (unless it contains other comments, love, support, insight, engagement, etc.). Thanks for your open mindedness and support!